British orchestras could be at risk because of a funding crisis that has seen musicians' pay fall to "woeful" levels, the Musicians' Union (MU) says.

The average rank and file orchestral musician has been in the job for 21 years and earns £22,500 a year, a MU survey has found.

That is half the average salary of their professional siblings, it says.

The orchestral occupation could start "dying on its feet in a few years", MU orchestral organiser Bill Kerr warned.

"People who would normally be attracted to join the profession will go and find other things to do because there simply isn't the money in it to be able to have a normal life and support a family," he told BBC News Online.

There's got to be a way of revitalising the finances of the orchestras